The Power of Fate and Dreams
by writergal24
Summary: 2nd Entry to Morning Lilies' Competition. Audrey/Percy. Last chapter is Audrey and Fleur which was my prompt . Audrey is a Muggle teacher and Percy is an arrogant MoM worker. So how do they end up together? Fate was stubborn, that's how.
1. Chapter 1

**This is my entry for Morning Lilie's Forgotten Family Ties Competition. My pair is Audrey and Fleur and my prompt is Dream.**

**But let me explain first. When I got this pair, I realize I had no idea who Audrey was. So, up until the last chapter, everything will Audrey and Percy's story. The last chapter will be my actual entry to the competition.**

**I don't own Harry Potter because when the first one came out, I couldn't read.**

**Hope you enjoy!**

_London - 1995_

In 1995, Audrey Cain worked as a primary school teacher in a suburban town just outside of London. Audrey loved her job. Every day she went to the school with a huge smile on her face, excited to hear what the young children's imaginations had in store that day.

Audrey had no idea that a war was cooking.

She went about her life in a normal way. She went to work, she watched television, she went out to dinner with her friends, and she went grocery shopping.

There was one particular fall day that she went grocery shopping. When she looked back on this day, she always did so with a smile.

* * *

><p>In 1995, Percy Weasley was steadily gaining power at the Ministry of Magic. Percy was enjoying this very much. Every time an elder worker complimented him or a younger one stared at him in envy, he responded with a smug smile.<p>

Percy refused to believe that a war was cooking.

Sure, his brother's friend claimed to have seen Voldemort. Sure, the Diggory boy hadn't returned alive. But the Minister said Voldemort was dead, and so he was dead. Percy had to believe the Minister. And, so, Percy too went about his normal life.

But, you see, Percy was at the grocery store the same day that Audrey was.

* * *

><p>They always argued about which vegetable they were shopping for. Percy always said broccoli. Audrey said cabbage. Perhaps they were both right. Maybe they were searching for different vegetables.<p>

No matter what they were looking for. They were both in the vegetable section when they first met.

Percy was particularly distraught that day. His father had nervously attempted to confront him in the elevator at work before Percy had managed to escape. His father had shouted something about his mother as Percy stalked down the hallway.

As Percy reached for the broccoli – cabbage – Audrey reached for the cabbage – broccoli – and their hands bumped together.

"Sorry," they both blurted, fumbling to straighten themselves up.

No, it wasn't some love at first sight. Audrey would recall that her only true opinion formed about Percy that day was that she had never seen hair so bright red.

Percy, well, he obviously noticed that she was pretty. She had long, dark hair tied into a knot at the back of her head. She had a nice smile and a contagious laugh. But Percy was agitated that day.

Percy picked up some vegetables, dropped some into her bag, and then kept the rest for himself.

They smiled apologetically at each other one more time, and then they continued through the store. Percy went in search of cereal and Audrey set off to buy pasta.

_Besides_, Percy thought,_ She's just some Muggle girl._

* * *

><p>But fate had different plans.<p>

Percy would grumble here. He didn't believe in fate or destiny. He believed in wanting something, working for it, and achieving it.

Audrey, on the other hand, believed in fate one hundred percent. There was no doubt in her mind that it was no coincidence that she and Percy met up again.

Part of the reason she believed this was the very place where she ran into him again.

Depending on who they were telling the story to, the next scene was often changed. When telling it to children, Audrey would simply say that she happened upon the Leaky Cauldron one day when she was lost in London. When telling it to adults, the story got much darker.

She was being chased, you see.

It was dark. It was stormy. Her umbrella had flown away. And, yes, she had been lost actually. As she examined street signs in the dim lighting, she started to notice a few men walking behind her at a very slow pace. So she crossed to the other side of the street. And they crossed too. And she crossed back. And they crossed too.

This was when Audrey started to panic.

She tried to enter the nearest shop, but the bookstore she first attempted to go into was closed so she went to the second store: a small, run-down pub.

The Leaky Cauldron.

Funny, isn't it? That a Muggle would end up in the Leaky Cauldron. It doesn't happen very often. Hannah said. It does happen occasionally. Usually they just convince the Muggle to leave. Sometimes it takes more persuasion and, depending on who's in the pub at the time, a memory charm.

Perhaps Audrey would've needed a Memory Charm. Apparently there was a centaur lurking in the back of the place. But Percy Weasley had just been on his way out when he ran straight into Audrey.

"You're cabbage guy," Audrey said with a smile after recognizing his hair.

Percy didn't even remember what she was talking about at first. He just stared at her blankly.

Then something flickered, perhaps, because he immediately started pushing her out of the Leaky Cauldron. "You can't go in there," he said quickly.

"Why? Look, those guys are following me…" Audrey turned around but found that the men following her had given up when they'd seen her with Percy and were now walking away, perhaps to go prey on another girl. "Well, they were following me…"

"Some guys were doing shots and they vomited everywhere," Percy invented off the top of his mind. "Trust me. You don't want to go in there."

Audrey frowned. "Oh." She glanced back out at the street.

Now, Percy may have been in a bad place in his life at that point. He may have abandoned his family in order to gain power and prestige. But Percy had still been raised by Molly Weasley, and Molly Weasley had taught the boy some manners. "Are you going home?" he asked. "Maybe I could walk you."

Audrey looked at him, shocked that a stranger would offer to do so. Maybe in the back of her mind she wasn't sure it was such a good idea, but compared to the idea of those men following her again, walking with Percy sounded like a pretty good idea.

"That would be great," she said. "I don't live too far from here."

The pair walked through the dark, dusty streets of London, passed apartment buildings that leered at them and quaint little shops whose storefronts had been shut down. They passed groups of drunk teenagers and hobos sleeping on the side of the street. Their only source of light was the occasional streetlamp and the dim moon that was hiding behind the clouds that night.

"I'm Audrey, by the way," Audrey introduced herself. She had to tilt her head back in order to look at her tall red-headed companion.

"Percy," he grumbled in response.

"Well, _Percy_," Audrey sang, "What do you do?"

Percy coughed loudly. "I, um, I work for the government," he said vaguely, staring straight ahead.

"That's… nice."

Percy made a noncommittal sound from the back of his throat.

"You live in London?" she asked, fidgeting with her ponytail.

"Yes."

"Did you grow up here?"

"No."

There was silence. Percy, perhaps realizing how awkward this was becoming, asked, "What about you?"

Audrey sighed. "I've lived here my whole life."

"Oh. Erm, what do you do?"

"I'm a teacher," she told him.

Percy didn't know how to respond to this. What was he supposed to say? I've had teachers before?

They walked on in silence past streetlamp after streetlamp.

Finally Audrey just couldn't stand it. "Have you ever been to America, Percy?" Audrey asked.

Percy was surprised by her sudden question. "I… no, I haven't. Er, why?"

"I'm going in a few months," Audrey informed him. "This summer. I was wondering if you had any pointers."

"Oh, well… no. I've never been."

"Too bad," Audrey murmured.

Percy thought for a moment. "Have you ever been to Egypt?"

"Egypt?" Audrey repeated. "No, the furthest I've been is France. Have you been to Egypt?"

"Yes," Percy told her. "It's amazing there. The pyramids are so informative and beautiful." Percy left out that his brothers had trapped him in the pyramid. Percy didn't talk much about his brothers at that point.

Audrey laughed quietly. "I can't even imagine how amazing it would feel to stand under the Sphinx."

"Oh, it's incredible," he told her, pride on having visited the place filling his voice. "Just… just wondering how they did it…"

You have to wonder if Audrey heard his pompous tone. You have to wonder if she ignored it because of the wisdom and passion that mixed with the pride. You have to wonder if she was completely oblivious.

Audrey always said that it was mostly the second. She kind of liked him, so she tried to ignore his pompousness. It worked for a while.

"That's… beyond words," Audrey said, imagining herself at the base, imagining herself climbing through the desert, talking to the natives. Oh, it sent chills through her body just imagining it.

One day she would, she convinced herself. One day.

"How much farther is your house?" Percy asked. It wasn't too rudely.

"Just two more blocks," Audrey told him.

"Oh."

But though Percy hadn't intended to be rude, his question had sucked the conversation out of them. They walked the rest of the way in near silence.

"This is my building," Audrey finally said.

Percy looked at her expectantly.

"Well, I guess I'll be seeing you then."

"What do you mean?" Percy asked.

Audrey laughed. "Considering our record, I'll probably run into you sometime next week." She pushed the door open with a final bark of laughter and a call of "Bye" over her shoulder.

A ghost of a smile spread over Percy's lips, but it was the only genuine, non-smug smile that had been there in days, months, maybe even years.


	2. Chapter 2

_London - Novemeber, 1996_

In the middle of the year 1996, Percy was forced to admit something horrible.

Voldemort was back.

Harry Potter hadn't been lying. Dumbledore hadn't been lying. His brothers hadn't been lying. They'd all been telling the truth.

The Ministry was nervous. The Minister had the Auror program taking in twice as many trainees as normal. He was making plans for protection. Perhaps he was even making plans for war.

War. That was what it might come to.

Percy had been almost six when the last war had ended. He had only a few, fleeting memories of it. And, of course, he remembered the day Harry Potter had defeated You-Know-Who.

But another war…

Percy hadn't spoken to his family in almost two years. Sure, they'd been right. But how could he go back to him now? His pride was hurt, his image was practically destructed. So he continued to dodge his father at work and he continued to hang on to every word that the Minister said and he continued to be the perfect little employee.

And he continued to gain power.

In the middle of the year 1996, Audrey Cain was still oblivious to the war. She was super excited for her trip to America and then, that summer, she went with two of her best friends. They had an amazing time. She returned home and went back to school in September.

Against Audrey's prediction, they hadn't seen each other in a very long time. But they didn't give much thought to each other. To Percy, Audrey was a Muggle. To Audrey, Percy was just some guy. Sure, he was pretty cute and his hair was amazing… but he was just cabbage guy.

Right?

They'd met two times already, two strikes, but fate hadn't given up yet. Fate had one more strike left, and he was going to try again.

* * *

><p>Neither of the two admitted to having seen each other until years after it happened.<p>

No, not Percy and Audrey.

Percy and George.

The Weasley family always assumed that Arthur was the only one who even had the chance to come in contact with Percy.

But it had happened twice actually. One time they'd met, George'd simply nodded at Percy and allowed Percy to continue on his way.

The other time, it was just after George and Fred had opened their joke shop, both George and Percy happened to be in the same part of Diagon Alley. Percy was there on work duties. He was being sent to hang up wanted posters. George was on his break.

They were outside of Ollivander's, in fact.

It had been a rough day for George. He'd gone to visit his mum the night before because his dad was working so late and she'd burst out crying in the middle of his visit about how she hadn't seen Percy in so long. George had to spend the night at the Burrow, attempting to calm her down.

Then that morning, one of their shipments had been late and they weren't able to offer the product they'd promised.

And now this. Percy was just strolling around, full of I-work-for-the-Ministry pride, hanging up wanted posters as though advertising a concert.

George was just so angry…

He slid in front of Percy. "Hello, brother," he greeted, a smirk pulling at one side of his lips.

"Fred, I…"

And his _dear_ brother couldn't even get his name right.

"I'm George," George spat.

Percy tugged at his collar uncomfortably. "Oh. Hello, George. It's nice to see you."

"Yeah, I wish I could say the same."

Percy glanced back at the bustle of Diagon Alley. The storefront of Ollivander's wasn't very crowded in the middle of the school year. "How's Mum doing?"

George's wand appeared out of nowhere. "Don't call her that."

"I…" Percy's eyes had widened to the size of Galleons.

"You know she cries over you almost every day? You know that she misses you so much that she can barely look at the family clock anymore? Your hand is _always_ pointing at work. Never at home."

"George, I have to go…"

George's wand rose.

Percy dashed away. Maybe he should have thought to apparate, but he was too flustered, too astonished by his brother's appearance, his brother's anger. He ran all the way through Diagon Alley, pushing past children ogling at broomsticks and mothers pushing strollers and goblins making their way to Gringotts and witches and wizards on dates. He dropped wanted fliers on the ground as he went. He ran through the Leaky Cauldron out onto the streets of Muggle London.

When he glanced back, he saw that George was still running after him, though he'd had the wisdom to stuff his wand back into his robes.

Still, the sight of two grown men in robes running through Muggle London must have been some sight. I'm surprised the Muggle Police didn't arrest them right there.

Percy had unknowingly led George to right outside of the apartment building that Audrey lived in and Audrey had chosen that very moment to come out of the door, wearing sneakers and running clothes.

"Percy!" she exclaimed when she saw him, surprised that she still remembered his name. "Hi! What're you…?"

"Can I come into your apartment building?" Percy asked. He didn't wait for an answer. He just pushed her back inside and followed.

George ran right past the building, cloak flaring behind him.

Audrey stared at him in confusion. "Were you being chased?"

Percy looked down at her. "Um… kind of."

"Who was that? He kind of looked like you…"

"Just some random guy," he assured her. "I'd best be going now…"

"Wait!" she said, grabbing his arm. "I'm not working today and I'm going to be bored out of my mind. Any chance you want to go grab some dinner later?"

Percy pretty much blanched at her and Audrey instantly withdrew. "Do you mean like on a date?" Percy asked incredulously.

Audrey shrugged. "I guess."

Percy looked over her. He hadn't gone on a date since he and Penelope had broken up at the end of their seventh year for "career purposes." (It had been a mutual decision.) But there was something about Audrey…

"I'll pick you up at seven," he announced, and he walked out of the building.

Audrey stared after him for a long moment before she recovered herself and went on the run she'd been planning the whole time.

See? Fate knew there was something there. Fate knew they were meant to be together. And after Fate's third intervention, they had started to realize it too.

* * *

><p>At 6:59, Percy stood in his apartment, staring at the clock. He was going to Apparate to the alley outside of Audrey's apartment building, but he didn't want to be too early, and he didn't want to be too late. About twenty seconds after the clock had changed to 6:59, Percy turned and was shot to the alley. He flattened his hair and straightened his clothes. Then he walked up to her door.<p>

At 6:59, Audrey walked out of her door. She wasn't really sure if Percy was the kind of guy that showed up twenty minutes late, so she wasn't in a rush. She knew it would take her at least two and a half minutes to get to the lobby, more if the elevator stopped a bunch of times on the way down.

At 7:03, their eyes met.

Now that they were at the restaurant, Audrey was starting to regret asking Percy in the first place.

It was unbelievably awkward.

They'd walked to the restaurant in near silence with only "how are yous" attempting to break the sheet of ice between them.

And now they were sitting there, waiting for the waiter to come take their order.

_Percy does look cute, though_, Audrey thought as her eyes skimmed the menus without obtaining any information. She glanced at him over the top, but he was avidly studying his menu. Audrey frowned and picked out a meal to order before placing her menu back on the table.

After a few minutes of carefully reading every single thing on the menu, Percy finally decided what he wanted and he placed the menu on top of hers and looked at her.

Audrey was staring at him.

Percy awkwardly shifted his eyes to the rest of the restaurant. He couldn't look into Audrey's eyes. Not when she looked like that. Her dark hair had been pulled out of her usual ponytail and her makeup was subtle, but gorgeous. She wore a little black dress and, oh Merlin, Percy couldn't look at her.

"How… how are you doing?" he asked, just to say something, because silence was not working very well.

Audrey held in the smirk. "I'm doing pretty well. How are you?"

"I'm doing great."

The waiter came and took their orders and then they were left in silence again. Audrey was hit with the sudden recollection that she knew almost nothing about Percy and she wasn't really sure how to start a conversation.

Luckily, he did it for her. "How was your trip to America?" Percy asked after grappling through his mind for something to ask her about.

Audrey's eyes lit up. "Oh, it was _amazing_. I had more fun than I've ever had in my entire life."

"What did you see?"

"We went to New York and we went shopping on 5th Avenue – you would not believe the number of people that are on that street at any moment of the day. And we saw a Broadway play. We went to the Statue of Liberty and the Empire State Building. We also went to a bunch of museums." Audrey paused to try and remember what else they'd done. "It was a pretty touristy trip," she admitted.

"Erm, what was the best part?" Percy questioned.

Audrey shook her head. "I couldn't even pick. It was all too amazing, all too different than London… I couldn't pick."

Percy must have felt something similar to what Audrey felt when he'd described his trip to Egypt: awe, respect, amazement. Here she was, gushing about the intellect, the awe-inspiring scenes, the miracles that she'd seen. The level of excitement in her voice…

They spent the rest of the night discussing all of the places on their bucket lists and then he walked her home as they continued to talk. Both of them wanted to walk along the entire route of the Great Wall of China, however improbable that goal was. They both wanted to go to Athens.

When they arrived back at Audrey's apartment, she asked for his phone number.

"My phone number," Percy repeated. He recalled his dad's love for these ridiculous contraptions, though he wasn't even positive what it was that they did. They were just some Muggle item. "I don't have one."

Audrey stared at him in disbelief. "You don't have a phone?" she repeated. Her jaw had gone slack with the shock.

Percy shook his head.

For a moment, Audrey wondered if he was lying to shake her off. But it didn't add up. He seemed to have enjoyed the night almost as much as she had.

"How about… I leave a message with your doorman?" Percy asked, rather stiffly.

But she knew what it meant.

"That would be… great." Audrey leaned onto her tiptoes and she kissed Percy's cheek. "Goodbye, Percy."

An entire night had gone by, and Percy had given not a single thought to the war that had been troubling him so much. Percy couldn't believe that this girl, this Muggle girl, had made him forget.

He was not looking forward to work the next morning.

Oddly enough, Audrey had no desire to go to work the next morning either. She was rather hoping that she would be able to spend the whole day with Percy.


	3. Chapter 3

_London/Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry - June 1997_

Dumbledore was dead.

Percy couldn't believe it. He'd never particularly liked Dumbledore, but Dumbledore had made him Head Boy, hadn't he? Shouldn't he at least respect him for that?

Percy was being forced to go to the funeral. Percy really didn't want to go to the funeral. He'd rather stay at home.

His family was going to be at the funeral.

He hadn't seen his family since Christmas.

He hadn't told Audrey about meeting his family on Christmas. Then again, he hadn't even told her about the relationship between him and his family. He was a bit afraid to. How would she react? Would she think that he was a jerk?

They'd been dating for almost seven months now, yet he was too chicken to tell her his life story. He really liked her, but he just couldn't. There were plenty of opportunities, he knew. They got together at least once a week, to go to dinner, or to see a movie. Percy often had to pretend that he knew what a movie (or something else Muggle like that) was.

But though she was a Muggle, and though that made it hard for them sometimes, he pushed through it. He made up excuses for not having a phone or a television or not being able to drive.

He'd been a jerk to his family the year before. He knew that now. But he didn't know how to make up for that.

So he went to Dumbledore's funeral and he sat there and he pretended that he wasn't there and they weren't there.

* * *

><p><em>London - August, 1997<em>

Percy really didn't want to lie to Audrey. But he had no choice, you see. He needed to tell someone about his family, about his life, to get an impartial ruling on how he should move forward. But he couldn't tell her about magic. For one, she wouldn't even believe him. Also, he wasn't really supposed to tell Muggles about his magic.

So after contemplating the issue for many, many weeks, he figured out just the right way to explain it.

"You know how I told you that I didn't grow up in London," Percy said to her.

Audrey nodded from across the table. They were out for dinner, but their food hadn't even come yet. She wore a casual black dress that Percy _loved_. Audrey was astonished that Percy was bringing up a topic like this. She didn't know much about his past and every time she asked questions, he pushed her away.

"I grew up on this small island in the Atlantic, maybe half an hour boat ride from the coast."

"What island?" she asked.

"You wouldn't have heard of it."

"It's a beautiful little island, very detached from everything else in the world. Very… different."

"Does everyone there have red hair?" Audrey asked with a smirk.

Percy shook his head, not laughing at her joke. He was totally serious tonight.

This was the side of Percy that scared Audrey. Normally, she forced him to break out of his shell, to laugh, to have fun, something she'd noticed that he never did around other people. But sometimes he'd be in moods when she couldn't get him to smile, couldn't get him to laugh.

"Only my family. It's… it's an amazing place to live," Percy said. "But there was this evil man… he was trying to take over the island when I was born. And almost half of the people on the island were following him. They almost succeeded, but then he was defeated and… he was exiled.

"But he came back a few years ago. I didn't believe it at first, but he came back. And now the island is in complete turmoil. Battles are happening, people are fighting, families are breaking apart… and I… I…"

Percy couldn't finish the sentence.

Audrey lay a hand on his shoulder and felt that he was shaking slightly. "Hey. You don't have to tell me everything."

"But I _want _to. I want you to know," Percy said, looking up at her with sad, brown eyes.

"Maybe you should tell me the rest another day," she suggested lightly.

He nodded in agreement. "Yeah. Maybe you're right."

Audrey gave him a small smile. The truth was she was a little scared to hear the end of the sentence.


	4. Chapter 4

**Christmas chapter. Merry Christmas, by the way!**

_London - Christmas 1997_

They spent Christmas at Audrey's Mum and Dad's, since there was obviously no question of going to Percy's parents'.

Audrey placed kisses on their cheek as she walked into the house, gifts in arms, snow melting in her hair.

Percy was hit with shock at how much his life had changed since he met her. Last year, though he'd been seeing Audrey, they hadn't been serious enough to spend the holiday together, so he'd been dragged by Scrimgeour to a very awkward meeting with his parents. Now he was at her family's house, the Ministry and all of those problems pushed to the back of his mind, because he didn't want to deal with that now. He didn't want to think about all those who had lost their lives that year. He just wanted to relax for the day.

Audrey's mum greeted him with a hug, gushing about she felt that she already knew him because Audrey had told her so much. Audrey's dad was watching a game on the television and didn't even give Percy much of a glance. Audrey's brother, Gavin, was on his phone. He was nineteen. Her sister, Olive, who was only fifteen, also paid no attention to them, other than to give Audrey a glare.

Listeners tended to perk up at this point in the story. They wanted to know what Audrey's family was like, since most of them had never met them.

Audrey pulled Percy over to the couch and he sat and watched as she tried to engage her family in conversation. After a few minutes of struggling, her father looked up at Percy (though maybe that was because it was half-time).

"Name?" he asked gruffly.

"Percy Weasley."

"What do you do, Percy Weasley?"

"I work for the government," Percy replied pompously.

Audrey rubbed Percy's arm. She was used to him acting like this in front of strangers, but she'd been hoping that he'd pass when talking to her family. Her dad didn't like people who were proud.

"What school did you go to?" Audrey's father questioned.

"I went to a small, prestigious boarding school."

Her father shook his head. "No, I meant university."

"Oh… I didn't."

"Percy started working right after he got out of school," Audrey supplied to her father. "But he has a very good job." Not that she knew. She barely knew anything about Percy's job.

Her father grumbled a bit and turned his attention back to the television.

"Why are they all ignoring you?" Percy whispered in his girlfriend's ear.

She shook her head. "Just leave it," she insisted.

But Percy couldn't. This was _not_ how he was treated at his house, or at least not how he'd been treated last time he was there. Though they were seven of them, his parents could never stop fretting over Percy and his siblings, and there were always children yelling at each other from across the room, sometimes from across the house.

His house was chaos.

This house was… almost boring.

They ate dinner. Gavin contributed to the conversation occasionally, and Audrey's father asked a few more questions, but he seemed to have dismissed Percy. It was Audrey's mother and Audrey herself that really fueled the conversation. And Percy talked, though he tried to restrain himself to let Audrey reconnect with her family.

Olive never looked at Audrey or Percy after that first glare.

And then they were sent back out into the snow.

As Audrey drove the pair home, Percy cleared his throat and asked quietly," You and your sister don't get along?"

"No," Audrey admitted.

She was content to leave it at that, but she supposed she might as well tell him the whole story.

"I used to go out and party till insane hours in the night when I was younger," Audrey said after a long moment's pause. "I'd come home at two in the morning beyond drunk and I scared Olive out of her mind. She's never forgiven me for it, even though I haven't done it in years."

There was a long pause filled only by the quiet music from the radio.

"I suppose I should finish telling you my life story," Percy said softly.

No response.

"I got a job with the local government right before the man who was trying to take over came back to power. They told me that there was no way he was coming back. My brothers and their friends had proof that this wasn't true. But I – I left my family. I didn't believe them. I haven't seen my mother in years. I don't even think I'd be accepted back."

"I'm sure they would accept you back."

"What makes you think that?" Percy demanded, starting to get a bit angry. He didn't like thinking or talking about his past. It was better to just pretend that he never did anything wrong. Then he didn't feel guilt. Then he didn't have to wonder how his mum was holding up.

"You've changed since I met you Percy," Audrey said, risking a glance at him. "I can tell. You used to be more…"

"Arrogant?" Percy offered.

"Proud," she said. "But you've changed."

"You've turned me into a big softie," Percy murmured. The ice was starting to thaw. "Audrey… I love you."

Audrey froze and the car swerved slightly, but she got it quickly back under control. She glanced at him again. "I love you too."


	5. Chapter 5

_London - January, 1998_

Audrey let herself into Percy's apartment. She expected to find him in his bedroom getting ready or in the kitchen cooking dinner or even in the living room reading.

But he was nowhere to be found.

Audrey decided he must have been hung up at work at she would hang out at his apartment until he got back. Maybe she would even make him dinner. Yes, that would be romantic. She took out all of the ingredients for a pasta dish she knew and loved and whipped up some pasta.

When she was done half an hour later, Percy was still not there.

Audrey began to look around the apartment. Maybe he'd left a note or something. But there was nothing.

She grabbed one of the books off of his shelf and sat down at the table to read. It appeared to be a book of fairytales, but they were very odd fairytales. Things like … She read the entire book before she dropped her head to the table and fell asleep. She awoke when she heard a popping noise and a small yelp.

Percy was standing in front of her. "How did you get in?" he demanded.

"I know where you hide your key," she reminded him, raising her eyebrows. "I didn't hear the door open."

"I was quiet," Percy murmured.

"Where were you?" Audrey demanded.

Percy made a face.

"Where were you?"

"I was at work…"

"Again?" Audrey looked at the clock. "Percy, you said you would meet me here four hours ago! I've been waiting here for four hours! I made dinner, I read this book" – Percy's face paled when she held up the book – "I waited for you."

"I'm sorry. Work's really crazy lately. I think I'm going to get a promotion," he said. Percy was so proud of all of the hard work he'd done to get to that point. And, yes, they may have been in the middle of a war, but a promotion would make that all better. Perhaps then he could also try to make a difference.

"So you had to leave me here?" Audrey demanded.

Percy walked up to her and wrapped his arms around her. "You're overreacting," he told her.

"No, I'm not!" she insisted, slipping out of his grip. "Because this isn't the first time this has happened. You always chose work over me, and I'm sick of it."

"Audrey, I…"

"No! I don't want to do this anymore. I don't want to sit around and wait while you're off doing some job that I don't even know about." She gave him a look that invited him to explain what it was he was doing, a question that had hung open between them since the beginning of their relationship, but he once again did nothing to soothe her worries.

"I _can't_ tell you," Percy insisted.

"I don't think I can accept that anymore."

Audrey grabbed her coat off of the chair and shrugged it on. She grabbed her purse and was halfway out the door when Percy called, "Whatever! You're just some stupid Muggle anyway!"

Audrey wheeled around. "What did you just call me?"

"I… I…"

Oh. No. Percy had just screwed up. This was what he'd been worried about the whole time. He'd let a wizarding term slip and now he was going to have to pay for it.

While Percy tried to gather himself up to respond, Audrey lost patience. "Whatever!" she exclaimed, and she left his apartment.

* * *

><p>Their breakup didn't last long. Audrey realized that she'd left her hair drier at Percy's apartment (yes, so maybe she'd spent a few nights there, though they blatantly said that) and she didn't have enough money to buy a new one, so she went to his apartment in hopes that he wasn't there.<p>

But, of course, he was.

"Hi," he said when he saw her at the door.

"I left my hair drier here."

Percy was suddenly very glad that he hadn't smashed it like he'd wanted to. He retrieved her hair drier and she was about to leave when he suddenly smashed his lips into hers.

It was that easy.

A few weeks later, she'd moved into his apartment (along with all of her Muggle paraphernalia) and they seemed to have forgotten about those three days they'd been apart.


	6. Chapter 6

_London - May, 1998_

When Audrey had arrived home from work on May 2nd, Percy had been out. Based on the note he'd left, he was at work.

But then he hadn't come home that night. Or the next night. Or the next.

On May 5th, Audrey was really starting to get worried. She considered calling the police and reporting that he was missing, but he had left a note…

That morning the doorbell rang.

There was a red-haired man at the door, but it was not the red-haired man that Audrey had expected, nor was it one that she'd ever met before.

A grin stretched across the man's face. He had scars spanning the entire length of his head, scars that had healed, but were still grotesque. He had long, shaggy hair and a shark-tooth necklace. "Ah," he said, "You must be Audrey."

Audrey just barely nodded. "And you?"

"I'm Bill Weasley, Percy's brother."

"I've never heard of you," Audrey said. She regretted the words the moment they fell out of her mouth. Why was she being so rude? "I'm sorry, it's just, he's talked about Fred and George and Ron, but I've never heard of Bill."

Bill didn't seem very affected by this news. "Don't worry, it's okay."

"Where's Percy?" Audrey asked, the question that had been hanging on the tip of her tongue for days now.

Bill let out a long sigh. "Can I come in?"

"Is he okay? Is he…"

"Percy's fine," Bill promised. "But I need to talk to you about that. And it's kind of a long conversation."

"Okay…" Audrey said, and she led Bill into Percy's apartment. They sat down on the couch and studied each other for a long moment.

Finally, Bill started his long conversation. "Percy told you that we lived on a small island that was undergoing a revolutionary war, correct?"

"Rebellion," Audrey corrected.

"Oh. Well, same thing."

"That's true, right?"

Bill made a face. "I really shouldn't be the one having this conversation with you. This should be Percy. But I have to tell you now or… or… I don't even know. Percy needs you and telling you is the only way for you to see him." Bill sounded as though he was trying to assure himself, not her.

"Just tell me," Audrey insisted.

He sighed. "You have to promise not to get mad at me, or at Percy. He wanted to tell you from the very beginning, but he couldn't."

Audrey just stared him down.

A tiny smirk slid across his face before he wiped it away and continued his story. "We don't live on another island. We live in England. However, we grew up in an entirely different world than you did."

"I don't know what you mean," Audrey admitted, studying Percy's brother's eyes. They looked quite similar to Percy's.

"Will you believe me?"

Audrey shrugged.

"No getting mad," He reminded her one more time before just saying it. "We're wizards, Audrey. Me, and Percy, and our entire family."

"I don't believe you," Audrey said simply, right away.

"Didn't think you would," Bill said with a huge smile. He pulled a stick of wood out of his coat, swished it around and then flicked it through the air.

And to her extreme astonishment, sparks flew out of his wand, and a fire started crackling in Percy's fireplace.

Audrey let out a series of curses before slumping back onto the couch.

"So you didn't grow up on another island?" Audrey asked.

"No. I bet Percy didn't want to lie to you. He just wasn't ready for you to know the truth," Bill offered.

Audrey just moaned. "I guess it does make sense."

Bill smiled. "I knew anyone dating Percy would be able to see the logic there."

Audrey was quiet for a long moment. "Alright. Where is Percy then?"

The smile vanished from Bill's face and was replaced by a grimace. "There was a battle," he told her. "A few days ago. At the school that we used to go to. Our brother…" Bill paused and took several deep breaths before he gathered the strength to continue. "Our brother… Fred… was killed."

"No."

Bill nodded.

"Oh, I'm… I'm so sorry," Audrey let out.

"Percy's… in denial," Bill said slowly, enunciating each syllable carefully. "He's refusing to come out of his room. He says it was all his fault." Bill started to shake softly with sobs that wanted to emerge from his body. "I hate to put this on you, Audrey, but I'm scared. I can't lose another brother."

Tears were swimming in Audrey's eyes. "You want me to come back to your house with you."

Bill nodded. "I do. But I need to warn you. We're all magic. You're probably going to see things that you've never seen before. Some which might scare you."

Audrey considered taking the easy way out for about a nanosecond. Then she thought of Percy, crying, in pain, and she knew that she had to go help him. "I can handle it," she said, though she wasn't entirely sure that she could.

"Also… as you could imagine, my house isn't the cheeriest right now."

"I can handle it," she repeated.

Bill let out a sigh of relief, or maybe he was just trying to calm himself down again. "Thank you." He looked at Audrey carefully. "I like you. I can see how you're good for Percy. Now, come. Let's take the Floo Network."


	7. Chapter 7

_The Burrow - May 5th, 1998_

Percy sat up in his room. Tears were streaking down his face, just as they had been for the past few days. Fred was gone, Fred was gone. It was all his fault. If he'd never left, if he hadn't shown up then, if he'd done something about it… All of the opportunities he'd had to save Fred, and he hadn't. He'd failed.

Percy sat up in his room, oblivious to the fact that his girlfriend had just emerged from his fireplace.

"Oh my goodness," she said when she stepped out. She took several deep breaths and steadied herself on the couch, unaware of the other people in the room. She had just transported from one fireplace to another.

Bill stepped out from behind her. "Great, you made it!" he exclaimed. He seemed to have recovered slightly.

Or maybe it's just because his mother was sitting, sniffling, on the chair on the other side of the room. In her arms she held a sweater with the letter F on it.

"Mum," he said, greeting her. "This is Audrey, Percy's girlfriend."

Mrs. Weasley barely even acknowledged that he'd spoken.

Bill turned away from her, eyes full of sorrow. This was _not_ how his mother was supposed to react to meeting one of his son's girlfriends. Bill looked around the room. Harry and Ginny sat on the step right outside of the door, but judging from the way they leaned into each other and whispered in each other's ears, they didn't want to be bothered at the moment. Bill couldn't find anyway else to introduce Audrey to, so he led her upstairs. As they walked, he told her who Ginny and Harry were.

Audrey loved the Burrow once she'd adjusted to the method of transportation they'd taken to get there. It was small and it was messy, but it was so homey. There were pictures everywhere of a group of gingers – and the pictures were moving!

Audrey tried not to concentrate on those little magical things that stuck out about the house. Her goal today was not to learn about magic – it was to comfort Percy.

Bill led her up the rickety steps, higher and higher.

They ran into a bushy brown-haired girl as they went up the stairs. She held a tray with a couple of plates on it and there was a determined frown on her face.

"None of them will eat, Bill," she announced.

"Charlie?"

"No."

"Percy?"

She shook her head.

"George?"

The girl just sighed.

"Ron's eating, right?"

A blush and a smirk appeared on her face. "Only because I'm feeding him. And Ginny and Harry are slowly forcing each other to recover. Honestly, I expected Harry to have the longest recovery rate, seeing as he went through so much but… he's doing pretty well. He won't be the same for a long time, obviously…" The girl trailed off as she spotted Audrey. "Oh, hello. You are…?"

"This is Audrey, Percy's girlfriend," Bill told her.

"Oh, hello. I'm Hermione, Percy's brother Ron's friend."

Bill chuckled. "I'd say you're a little more than friends," he said with a wink.

Hermione blushed again and she passed them with a smile at Audrey.

Audrey and Bill walked up one more flight of stairs before they reached a door. "This is Percy's room," Bill whispered to her before knocking.

"I don't want any food," Percy called.

His words hit Audrey like a bullet. The haughtiness that his voice usually held had been replaced by pure, pure pain and grief.

She pushed past Bill and opened the door. "I'm not here to bring you food," she announced once she was in his room.

Percy looked up at her in shock.

His eyes were rimmed with red, his shirt was soaked, he was curled up into a ball against his back wall, but Audrey barely noticed any of that as she went straight up to him and wrapped her arms around him.

Percy shook and sobbed in her arms for hours. "It's okay," she insisted. "I'm here. You're going to be okay."

"But Fred…"

"It wasn't your fault," Audrey said, as she started to cry too. "Everything's going to be okay."

He didn't argue. He just cried and cried until the tears were gone.

**Just one more chapter!**


	8. Chapter 8

**This is my real entry to Morning Lilies' Forgotten Family Competition. I urge you to go read some of the other entries. They are all really good!**

In 2070, Percy Weasley had retired. His kids had their own jobs and kids now. He spent most of his days reading.

In 2070, Audrey Weasley fell ill and passed away a month later.

At Grandma Audrey's funeral, Great-Aunt Fleur told us a story of the best moment they'd shared. It went a little like this…

It was Christmas 2001. Teddy was three. Victoire was two. Audrey's due date for Molly had passed already and she'd had to argue with her doctor to let her come that day. Fleur had only months to go before Dominique popped out.

The pair of pregnant women couldn't take the commotion of the Weasley Christmas party after a while. So, making an excuse of putting Teddy and Victoire to sleep, they slipped upstairs and, after putting the kids to sleep, sat in the hallway outside of one of the bedrooms that had been converted into a nursery on chairs that Fleur had dragged out for them.

"'ow eez ze baby doing?" Fleur asked Audrey.

Audrey ran a hand over her bulging stomach. "Pretty well," she responded. "And you?"

"I cannot wait to get ze baby out," Fleur admitted honestly.

Teddy moaned softly in his sleep and rolled over. "What do you think they're dreaming about?" Audrey wondered aloud.

"I 'ope good things. Probably playing and 'aving fun. When I waz zeir age, I dreamed of Voldemort coming to keell me."

Audrey shuddered. "I hope that's not what they are dreaming about. What do you dream about now?"

"I 'ave no dreams. I 'ave no time for sleep."

"Oh." Audrey was quiet for a moment. She didn't know her sister-in-law very well, but she'd always liked her. She'd accepted her into the family with willing arms, partially because Bill liked her, partially because she knew what it was like to be on the outside of the Weasley family. "I think dreams are really important."

"Why?" Fleur asked, sounding disgusted. She was a very practical women and could not imagine how dreams could be important.

"I think dreams, while you're sleeping and while you're not, have an effect on your life. If you want something badly enough, it will happen," Audrey admitted.

Fleur made a disgusted noise. "Bill 'as told mee that you believe in Fate."

Audrey grinned. "I do. Bill and I have had some very interesting conversations about Fate."

Fleur looked disgusted at this too. "Bill does not believe in Fate."

"How would you explain what happened to me then? How would you explain me and Percy's relationship?" Audrey challenged.

This conversation was taking a real toll on her. She wiped her head and found it was wet. She was breathing heavily and the baby in her stomach was kicking around a lot.

"And as for the dreams, I used to dream about attending a Weasley family holiday and not be accused of anything. And would you look at that… it happened," Audrey said with a smile.

Audrey's eyes widened and she jolted.

She was going into labor.

Hours later, Molly Olive Weasley was born.

Even though Fleur still didn't believe in the power of dreams.

**Hope you enjoyed! Please review and let me know.**

**One other thing that I want to say is that I had a lot of trouble with the deadline, so if I had had more time, this story probably would have been a lot longer. I only did the scenes that I felt NEEDED to happen.**

**Thanks so much for reading! Merry Christmas!  
>~writergal24<strong>


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